Bowling vs. Saling is part of the event’s preliminary card, which takes place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Main-card action airs live on Showtime while prelims air on Showtime Extreme.

By all appearances, Bowling has but one piece of Kryptonite: Bobby Voelker, who came out ahead in a trilogy they fought on the Strikeforce canvas.

But the 29-year-old Cincinnati native still hired a nutritionist to look into the possibility of fighting at lightweight, and he planned to move a division lighter after knocking out Jerron Peoples in 42 seconds at “Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal.”

“The plan after my last fight was to stay on a strict diet, which I did, and keep my weight down and try to drop to 155,” Bowling said. “But unfortunately, I went back up to 195.

“There’s going to be a lot of stuff I need to do before I drop to 155. (It’s) still not out of the question, but it’s going to be hard.”

Thankfully, a distraction arrived before he undertook the changes needed to lose even more weight. With a light-heavyweight fight between Gegard Mousasi and Mike Kyle iced due to injury, a spot opened up on Saturday’s card.

With two weeks’ notice, Bowling is certain to hit the saunas hard just to get to the welterweight limit. That’s a cut he’s used to, however, and fighting near his hometown was too attractive an offer to turn down.

But he said when Strikeforce matchmaker Sean Shelby gives him that awkward talk following a string of losses, or the UFC comes calling with an offer at 155 pounds, it’s time to move.

“Until somebody really hands it to me at 170 (pounds) and I feel like they’re completely way too strong for me, I’ll keep fighting at 170,” Bowling said.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

The Latest

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?